10 You can guess why Neo-Card Police has “neo” in it.
Neo Card Police is an agent agency that was formed after its predecessor, “Card Police,” collapsed for various reasons.
The director had gotten involved with Demon cards, and a rookie police officer resolved his evil deeds.
Well, that itself happened a little after I was born.
Like twenty years ago?
The current Neo Card Police is free of such corruption (or so it should be) and is the most well-known agent agency in this world.
Anyway, since I occasionally get challenged to Dark Fights, I’m acquainted with people from Neo Card Police.
Or rather, Neo Card Police detectives regularly come by on patrol.
This is probably because my shop is a card shop large enough to deal in rare card trading.
In any case, it’s an appreciated situation.
“Welcome…oh, it’s the detective.”
“Yo, not disrupting anything, am I?”
On a Saturday afternoon right after opening, the detective in question showed up.
Trench coat and a face that suits smoking cigarettes.
He has such a detective-like appearance that I call him “detective.”
“And I’m Kusakabe. While my rank is equivalent to a detective, Neo Card Police doesn’t actually have a ‘detective’ position.”
“Well, with an appearance that screams detective like that, I can call you detective a little, can’t I?”
“Just where does this peculiar fixation of yours come from?”
Traditions are important, right?
Though the detective isn’t an otaku, so that kind of talk doesn’t resonate.
Plus, while he corrects me, he doesn’t seem to dislike it either.
To begin with, his appearance includes his own hobbies too.
I knew he probably doesn’t mind that much.
Anyway.
“So what brings you here today? As a detective or as a customer?”
“Since I’m off-duty, I dropped by, but the reason I came is as a Neo Card Police rep…”
It’s rare for someone from Neo Card Police to actually come to the shop.
They do sometimes come as regular customers to participate in tournaments.
In those cases, the atmosphere is clearly more relaxed.
Today, he’s undoubtedly here as a detective.
So the store interior seems a bit tense.
While curious kids are probably fine, adults tend to get nervous when the police are around.
Specifically, like that suspicious musclebound giant over 190cm tall wearing a knit cap and sunglasses rummaging through storage in the back.
“So what’s this about?”
“Came to check on a couple people.”
“One is…Erea, I take it?”
The detective helped out when Erea started living in this world, since we’re acquaintances.
There is an agent agency specializing in handling monsters from other worlds arriving here, but they’re small-scale.
In non-emergency cases, Neo Card Police typically handles it.
“Yeah, she’s doing well. Was streaming until late last night.”
“Saw that, you were the one who barged in her.”
You watched it, huh?
Well, I suppose he does need to regularly check that the monster-type individuals he’s handled are properly settling into life here.
As part of that, it’s not strange for him to watch Erea’s streams.
“…You weren’t mixed in with those nutcases who went wild with super chats when I barged in, were you?”
“Nah, no need to worry about her. With you around, she’ll be fine.”
Hey, wait a minute.
Don’t change the subject!
“The other one is…that girl over there.”
The detective glances towards the free space area.
There, Yato-chan, who had been battling, hurriedly averts her gaze with a tense expression as she eavesdropped.
I see, I can pretty much guess.
“The new recruit at Ren’s place who ended up joining by chance, huh?”
“Yeah. No matter that her sister’s in it, it’s not good for an amateur to suddenly become an agent.”
“But I heard she passed the exam.”
“Even so.”
Well, I can’t blame the detective for feeling uneasy.
The state of public safety in this world is atrocious.
Just the other day I took down a Dark Fighter – a fighter who initiates Dark Fights, simple enough – and less than a month later another Dark Fighter appeared.
At the worst times, my shop gets barged in once a week.
At the same time, to take rare cards, you have to defeat the owner in a Dark Fight.
This is because by default, rare cards never leave their owners’ person.
My place just openly displays cards in cases since we have Erea, a security pro.
“Plus that girl is…”
“Hm? What’s with the hesitation?”
“Nah, no point going on about it now.”
“By saying that much, you’re implying there is something, though.”
Does Yato-chan have some other secret?
The girl I know is a perfectly ordinary punk/otaku girl.
As far as I know from her, the only unusual part of her background is not having parents-
“Well, no problem telling you about it.”
“Then spit it out. If you can’t here, I get it, but still.”
“Nah, you’ll find out eventually anyway.”
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I can’t refute that, to be honest.
I rarely get directly involved in incidents.
But there are plenty of times I get indirectly involved to a small degree.
The recent incident with Futaro is a prime example.
To resolve his inner conflict, my force of destiny sent me all the way to the Hidden Realm he was in.
Since things like that happen frequently, I know about the existence of secret realms, of other worlds.
I was even connected to the Dark Card Countermeasures Agency, a secret group, before meeting Yato-chan.
So whatever secret Yato-chan has,
I’ll probably end up indirectly guiding her through it as usual.
“Anyway, that’s how it is. I’m counting on you, Shop Manager.”
“A request from an old acquaintance – of course I’ll handle it properly when the time comes.”
With that, the detective left the store.
…Or rather, shouldn’t you at least call out to that suspicious muscled giant in the knit cap and sunglasses? He’s a regular too, right?
After the detective left the store,
Yato-chan timidly approached the counter.
“…Kusakabe-san, did he say anything?”
“Nah, nothing? He just had business with me this time.”
It seems she’s acquainted with the detective as well.
But she looked quite intimidated.
Is he really that off-putting to her?
“Not off-putting per se…but he has such a seriously intense gaze.”
“Makes you nervous talking to him?”
“Yeah, that’s how it is. You’re amazing being so natural with him, sir.”
“Well, he’s an old acquaintance of mine.”
“I see,”
As she hands me the cards from storage, it seems Yato-chan simply finds the detective intimidating due to his intense demeanor.
She doesn’t seem to be hiding anything.
While checking her out, I continued:
“He was actually a couple years below me in college.”
“…Eh?”
Yato-chan tilts her head in surprise.
“Eh? Kusakabe-san is your junior? But he has such an old man vibe!”
“…he was just born with an old man face.”
“I…see…”
Detective Kusakabe.
Within a year of being assigned to Neo Card Police, he rose to the equivalent rank of detective – Neo Card Police has a rank system where higher is more prestigious.
Despite his prematurely aged face, he capitalized on it to embody the hard-boiled detective style – my underclassman two years behind me.
Even using an adorable animal monster deck fits the “don’t judge a book by its cover” theme he exemplifies.
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